“Ouch.

The 'Rush had proven to be the nemesis of the Ex-Pats the 3 previous games, and this was no different. The Expats made 2 big mistakes to not win (or at least not tie), but the second was heavily contributed by the Rush.

The Expats kicked, and before they had moved everyone the 'Rush snaked the Ag 4 pickup! The Expats swarmed, surrounding and pounding the rats, and soon had the ball in hand with a break away. But they got cute and tried to hand-off to a (St 5) Saurus for the score (and also to turn MA 10 1d blitzes on Skinks into -3d on the Saurus) - and that failed miserably.

Next turn the rats had the ball back in hand, and then it was tooth and nail, 2 Skinks vs. 2 Gutters, all the way down the field, back and forth, trading possession with the luck mixed evenly - the Skinks would 2d for a Pow and then luck out on the Ag 3 pickup, and then the Gutters would luck and Pow on a 1d and get the Ag 4 pickup. Turn 8, they stood up, 1d'd again, Pow'd, scooped, and limped in for the score.

2nd Half, the Expats resigned themselves to grinding for a tie, and inched the cage forward square by square, and only finally knocking a couple rats off the field. But around Turn 3 a Saurus was gang-fouled for a Cas, and after that the cage started to get ragged, and a Guard-Stepping Gutter Runner wormed into the edge of the cage. He was knocked down, but when he stood up - it was game over for the ball carrier. The Rush Wrestler took him down, and the ball was again in the hands of MA 10 rats.

Then the dice left the building for the Expats, but by then the game was mostly over for them anyway.

The really painful part was that altho' the Expats outblocked the 'Rush 3:1 (~60:20), the Rush never even used their Apo, and not until the last half-dozen turns lost anyone off the field, while the Expats lost 2 good players. One of those games, clearly.

But the credit goes to Coach gjopie, both for his team build and taking maximum advantage of the opportunities he had (and creating at least one of them!).

Next time!... or, at least the time after that!”